Story of the Day

Worker loses hands making TVs for LG

On February 11th 2011, the boss of a factory in Reynosa, Mexico was pressuring the night shift workers to "work faster, because we need the material urgently."

A short while later Rosa Moreno, a metal worker, lost both her hands while she was cutting parts parts used in assembling flatscreen televisions for LG Electronics.

A massive metal-cutting machine fell on top of Rosa, badly mangling her hands - both of which had to be amputated.

After the accident, the factory offered Rosa $3800 pesos, a sum described as paltry by campaigners.

As a single mother of 6 children she was earning $400 pesos a month from the factory. She eventually got about $14,400 in settlement money under Mexican labour law, an amount equal to 75% of two years’ wages for each hand.

However she decided to find a lawyer in Texas USA who helped her file a lawsuit against LG Electronics, which contracted with the factory where she worked. The judge threw out the lawsuit on a technicality, saying LG had not been properly notified.

Sum of Us and 38 degrees are now both running petition campaigns to get LG to enforce labour protections in its supply chain, and to fully compensate injured workers like Rosa.

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